Sporting Life

January 29, 2004 — 11.00am

Justine eyes the men

Tennis stars vary in how they mentally prepare for a big match. Some go shopping, some relax with friends and others just like to lounge around their hotel and do nothing much at all. And then there's Justine Henin-Hardenne. The world's No. 1 women's player who takes on Colombia's Fabiola Zuluaga in one of the Australian Open semi-finals today revealed yesterday that when she is not playing she likes to spend her time around men. Now before you raise your eyebrows at this news, we should tell you that her favourite man is still very much her husband, Pierre-Yves Hardenne, her confidante and manager but more importantly "the man who makes me laugh". "That's one of the reasons I married him; he's very funny and makes me laugh all the time. Spending time with him takes the pressure off me before big games, for sure," said the Belgium champ of the man she married in November 2002. But it's the "other men in her life" who also contribute to helping her relax, Henin-Hardenne further revealing she likes watching her male colleagues, in particular her favourite players Andre Agassi and David Nalbandian, strut their stuff on the court. "I don't wish to offend the other women players on the circuit but I learn more by watching the men play than I do watching the girls," she said. "Really, you can't compare the two and I am not too shy to say that." Henin-Hardenne also suspects that the men players get a buzz out of watching the women "but are far too macho to say so".

HH and the Brat - what a team

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In an effort to concentrate on her singles career, Henin-Hardenne has put her doubles career temporarily on hold but when she thinks the time is ripe for a return she has a pretty special player - and a very willing one - earmarked as a partner. It is none other than former superstar John McEnroe, these days TV commentator and legends circuit star. Seems that while commentating on last year's US Open, McEnroe was so impressed with her ability, in particular her powerful backhand which he rated as the best in the world - men or women - that he said he would like to have her as a mixed-doubles partner. Henin-Hardenne heard about his comments and said yesterday she was equally as enthusiastic about a match-up with him but not until later in her career. What a pity McEnroe won't be calling today's semi, because should she win, it would have provided him with the perfect opportunity in his post-match interview to put their plans in place.

No Safinettes, just mum

So where have Marat Safin's women entourages been this tournament? Yeah, well that's a question that we want answered, too. The Russian 2002 Australian Open runner-up, you may remember, has not only enjoyed a love affair with our Open that started when he finished third here in 1999, but his off-court love life has also appeared to have prospered as evidenced by the streams of glamorous females, nicknamed the Safinettes, who have been spotted in his players' box at various stages of his campaigns. No such bevy of beauties thus far in 2004 however, and one of the reasons for that may well be that the most important woman in his life - his mother Rausa - is this year travelling with him. Rausa, who coached Marat from when he was aged six to 13, certainly doesn't put up with any nonsense. She also coached fellow Russian Anastasia Myskina in her junior days, the 22-year-old who bowed out of the tournament in yesterday's quarter-finals describing her as "a really tough coach". Said Myskina: "She was always, you know, she put pressure on us so we were really quiet." Prospective Safinettes planning to accept a Safin invitation to his players' box for tonight's semi-final against Andre Agassi will do so at their own peril, we reckon.

Getting to know you . . .

And an update on the battle of the "you-know whos", Lisa Raymond and Kim Clijsters, who we told you yesterday have been involved in a hotly contested battle to see who can use the phrase "you know" the most often in their post-match press conferences. Up until yesterday Raymond had her head in front, having used it 67 times in 1525 words (at a smart rate of every 22.76 words uttered) compared with Clijsters, whose best score was 27 in 1045 words (at 38.7). Well, Clijsters finished with a flourish at her media chat yesterday, managing 53 in 1245 words (at 23.5) but, not to be outdone, Raymond also improved, belting out "you know" 42 times in her 836-word audience with the world's media at a clip of 19.19. In future Opens, tournament officials are even thinking of having the phrase built into their keyboards so they can cut back on the number of staff required to belt out all the players' transcripts. We're serious, you know.

What in the world . . .

You have to be on your toes in this business. Just ask Australian Open media and public relations boss John Lindsay, who late on Tuesday night did an interview with a Bogota radio station about the successful Open campaign by Colombia's Fabiola Zuluaga, a procedure made complicated by a interpreter having to translate the station's questions and Lindsay's replies. The Open man coped with that all right, but at one point found himself hanging for about five minutes while a conversation involving two Colombians took place on the other end of the line. So imagine Lindsay's shock when he eventually discovered that one of those talking was Zuluaga herself, the station having tracked her down dining at a Melbourne restaurant. What's more, Lindsay even ended up talking to Zuluaga, their conversation having to bounce from Melbourne to Bogota and back again, even though they were just a few kilometres from each other.

Guillotine for Santoro

As always, the Australian Open has provided good copy for news outlets all over the world, but it wasn't so much the on-court action that had the French press jumping yesterday. The news off it was that Frenchman Fabrice Santoro, best remembered here for when he combined with Cedric Pioline in the doubles to help his country beat Australia in the 2001 Davis Cup final in Melbourne, had been dumped from the cup team to play Croatia next week because French captain Guy Forget said he didn't fit in with his long-term plans. Santoro was bundled out of this Open by Mark Philippoussis in the second round but, with countryman Michael Llodra, has made it to the doubles semis thanks to a quarter-final win which, much to the disgust of the French press who needed to interview him about Forget's sacking, didn't finish until the wee hours of Wednesday morning.

Who said that?

"And on that note . . ."- JOHN McENROE ending his post-match court interview with Juan Carlos Ferrero after a fan yelled "get off McEnroe". Apparently he had earlier also been given the wind-up by Seven staff but managed to keep the interview going for at least three more minutes. Couldn't shut "the Brat" up, eh. Yeah, so what else is new?